8.  The applicant, Agrotehservis, is a Latvian-Ukrainian joint venture based in Riga, with legal personality under Latvian law.
9.  On 13 May 1992, under the intergovernmental agreement of 21 April 1992 between the Republic of Latvia and Ukraine, the applicant concluded a contract with the Kherson Refinery, which was later transformed into the “Khersonnaftopererobka” Joint-Stock Company (hereinafter “the Refinery”). Under the contract the applicant was to supply oil to the Refinery and the latter had to provide it with oil products in return.
10.  On 10 December 1996 the applicant lodged a claim with the Highest Arbitration Court of Ukraine (Вищий арбітражний суд України, hereinafter “the HAC”) against the Refinery for failure to honour the contract.
11.  On 7 February 1997 the HAC rejected the applicant’s claim as time-barred. The applicant did not appeal against this decision.
12.  On 2 September 1997 the panel of the Highest Arbitration Court for the review of judgments, orders and decisions (судова колегія з перегляду рішень, ухвал, постанов Вищого арбітражного суду України, hereinafter “the Review Panel”) reviewed the decision of 7 February 1997 on its own motion. The latter decision was quashed and the case was remitted for a fresh consideration.
13.  On 9 October 1997 the HAC rejected the applicant’s claim as time-barred.
14.  On 26 November 1997 the applicant appealed against this decision under the supervisory review procedure to the Review Panel. On 30 January 1998, the Panel quashed the decision of 9 October 1997 and remitted the case for a fresh consideration.
15.  On 10 April 1998 the HAC found for the applicant. The court established that in June 1992 the applicant had supplied 60,000 tonnes of oil to the defendant and was to receive 17,852 tonnes of oil products from the defendant in return. As the oil products had not been supplied, the HAC awarded them to the applicant. The court also awarded the applicant UAH 10,000 in legal costs.
16.  In August 1998 the applicant lodged a claim with the HAC to change the manner of enforcement of the judgment of 10 April 1998. On 26 August 1998 the court allowed the claim and ordered the Refinery to pay the applicant UAH 7,011,186[1] in lieu of the 17,852 tonnes of oil products.
17.  On 2 June 1998 the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine (Генеральна Прокуратура України, hereinafter - “the GPO”) lodged an appeal for supervisory review with the Review Panel of the HAC seeking to quash the judgment of 10 April 1998. The GPO maintained that the applicant had lodged its original claim outside the time-limit and had not paid a court fee. It further maintained that the HAC had not taken certain documents into account.
18.  On 17 July 1998 the Review Panel rejected the appeal as unsubstantiated.
19.  On 31 August 1998 the GPO lodged an appeal for supervisory review with the Presidium of the HAC (президія Вищого арбітражного суду України) to quash the judgment of 10 April 1998 given in the applicant’s favour. The GPO maintained that there was insufficient evidence that the applicant was the owner of the oil which had been supplied to the Refinery in 1992 and that the HAC had wrongly decided that the original claim was not time-barred.
20.  On 26 November 1998 the Presidium of the HAC ordered a forensic examination in the framework of the supervisory review proceedings.
21.  On 30 December 1998 the experts of the Kiev Scientific and Research Institute of Forensic Examination gave their opinion, confirming the applicant’s ownership of the oil supplied to the Refinery in 1992.
22.  On 6 January 1999 (11 January, according to the Government) the Presidium of the HAC rejected the GPO’s appeal as unsubstantiated and upheld the previous decisions of the HAC in the case.
23.  On 18 May 1999 the GPO lodged an appeal with the HAC for a review of the case in the light of newly discovered circumstances. The GPO maintained in particular that, at the time of the original proceedings, the courts had been unaware of the results of a forensic examination of 6 May 1999, and therefore the case should be reviewed.
24.  On 15 June 1999 the HAC rejected this appeal as unsubstantiated. The court noted that the latest forensic examination confirmed the conclusions of the court in its decision of 10 April 1998 and were mentioned in the court’s decision of 6 January 1999.
25.  On 26 August 1999 the GPO lodged an appeal for review in the light of newly discovered circumstances with the Review Panel of the HAC. The GPO submitted the same arguments as it had in its appeal of 18 May 1999.
26.  On 4 October 1999 the Review Panel of the HAC rejected the appeal as unsubstantiated and upheld the decision of 15 June 1999.
27.  On 21 December 1999 the GPO lodged an appeal for supervisory review with the Presidium of the HAC to quash the judgment of 10 April 1998 in the applicant’s favour. In support of its appeal, the GPO maintained that the court had erroneously rejected their previous appeals and that there was insufficient evidence to establish ownership of the oil by the applicant.
28.  On 28 January 2000 the Presidium of the HAC allowed the extraordinary appeal and quashed the judgment of 10 April 1998 in the applicant’s favour. The court found that the applicant had not provided sufficient evidence of its ownership of the 60,000 tonnes of oil supplied to the Refinery in 1992, and that its original claim was time-barred.
29.  On 17 March 2000 the applicant requested the President of the HAC to review the decision of 28 January 2000 at the Plenary of the HAC (пленум Вищого арбітражного суду України). By letter of 26 July 2000, the Acting President of the HAC rejected the applicant’s request for lack of grounds.
30.  In June 2001 the procedural legislation changed, allowing appeals in cassation to the Supreme Court of Ukraine (Верховний Суд України) against the decisions of the HAC (see the relevant domestic law below).
31.  On 28 September 2001 (26 October, according to the Government) the applicant lodged an appeal under the new cassation procedure with the Supreme Court of Ukraine against the judgment of 28 January 2000.
32.  On 21 January 2002 the Supreme Court of Ukraine quashed the decision of the Presidium of the HAC of 28 January 2000 and confirmed the validity of the judgment of 10 April 1998 given in the applicant’s favour. The court established that the prosecutors had not been competent to lodge the extraordinary appeals in the interests of the Refinery, and quashed all the decisions of the HAC given under the extraordinary review proceedings in 1998-2000.